NKVD troika 1053707 225625331 2008-07-14T16:48:23Z 64.41.7.127 /* Background */ [[Image:NKVD Dungeon.jpg|thumb|220px|A prisoner about to be shot by [[NKVD]] [[executioner]]s. Painting by [[Nikolai Getman]], provided by the [[Jamestown Foundation]].]] '''NKVD troika''' or '''Troika''', in [[Soviet Union]] history, were commissions of three people employed as an additional instrument of [[extrajudicial punishment]] (внесудебная расправа, внесудебное преследование) introduced to supplement the legal system with a means for quick punishment of anti-[[Soviet]] elements. It began as an institution of the [[Cheka]], then later became prominent again in the [[NKVD]], when it was used during the [[Great Purge]] period in the [[Soviet Union]]. The Russian word [[troika]] literally means "threesome" or "triumvirate". ==Background== Troika commissions were common to Bolshevik organizations, because three persons are the minimum required for collegiate decisions: this is the minimal number for voting, a necessary instrument of democratic decision, was reasonably possible, e.g. the size of a party cell was 3. The first repressive troika was instituted in 1918, the members were [[Felix Dzerzhinsky]], [[Yakov Peters]], and [[Left Eser]] [[V. Aleksandrovich]]. First "operational troikas" (оперативная тройка) were introduced in the "centre", in Moscow military [[okrug]] in [[1929]]. The qualifier "operational" denotes they were based on the ''operational departments'' of the [[OGPU]]. Gradually, troikas were introduced to other parts of the U.S.S.R. for various and different purposes: "court troikas" (судебная тройка), "extraordinary troikas" (чрезвычайная тройка), and "special troikas" (специальная тройка). ==Repression of [[kulaks]]== A notable step was the [[NKVD Order no. 00447]] by July 30, [[1937]] ''О репрессировании бывших кулаков, уголовников и других антисоветских элементов'' ("About repression of former [[kulak]]s, criminals, and other anti-Soviet elements") undersigned by [[Nikolai Yezhov]]. By this order, troikas were created on the levels of republic, [[krai]], and [[oblast]]. Investigation was to be performed by '''operative groups''' "in a speedy and simplified way", the results were to be delivered to troikas for trials. The chairman of a troika was the chief of the corresponding territorial subdivision of [[NKVD]] ([[People's Commissar]] of a republican NKVD, etc.). Usually a troika included the prosecutor of the republic/krai/oblast in question; if not, he was allowed to be present at the session of a troika. The third person was usually the [[Communist Party]] secretary of the corresponding regional level. The staff of these troikas were personally specified in the Order # 00447. Protocols of a troika session were passed to the corresponding operative group for executions of sentences. Times and places of executions of death sentences were ordered to be held in secret. Troikas of this purpose functioned for about a year. ==Repression of Poles== On [[September 15]], [[1938]] the [[Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee|Politburo]] issued the resolution (# П64/22) about the creation of Special troikas (Особая тройка) for the period of [[Polish operation of the NKVD]], functioned for about two months. Later the experience was re-used during other [[Mass operations of the NKVD|National operations of the NKVD]]: Romanian, Latvian, Finnish. ==Abolition== The institution of troikas was abolished in [[1938]] by the [[Decree about Arrests, Prosecutor Supervision and Course of Investigation]], issued jointly by the [[Sovnarkom]] and [[VKP(b)]] [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee]]. == See also == *[[Special Council of the NKVD]] *[[Isaac Babel]] ==External links== * [http://www.memo.ru/eng/index.htm The Memorial civil movement] [[Category:NKVD]] [[Category:Soviet phraseology]] [[Category:Political repression in the Soviet Union]] <!-- interwiki --> [[et:Erinõupidamine]] [[es:Troika del NKVD]] [[lt:NKVD trejetas]] [[ro:Troica NKVD]] [[ru:Особая тройка НКВД]] [[uk:Трійка НКВС]]